Does duloxetine withdrawal cause a “pins and needles” feeling in hands or feet?

Thanks for the reply. This has been a horrible year with her on that drug. No impact on the idiopathic neuropathy issues and SO many side effects. The biggest impact has been to her personality. She just doesn’t seem to care about me or our twin boys anymore. Unfortunately, she had already reinstated to the 120 mg per day dose. I am concerned that this Neurologist may not be the most knowledgeable about this drug. He should know what the withdrawal side effects are? However, he doesn’t seem to acknowledge any side effects either while taking Duloxetine or withdrawing . He calls Duloxetine a “miracle drug , 100% reward, 0% risk”. My partner is very devoted to him as he is a very kind person and does listen. I just don’t think he is a knowledgeable physician.

I should have added- the method your partner was using to taper was a bit odd to me. You should optimally decrease the dose on every day- not add in skipping days. Drugs have a certain half-life and if you don't dose regularly you are setting yourself up for unnecessary withdrawal symptoms. She has it right going slow- ie making changes once a week, but make equivalent decreases on each day. Is her doc a board certified pain doc? A lot of docs try to claim they can treat pain- but we pain docs specialize in to and you most like won't find one of us not knowing the withdrawal symptoms- or even actually thinking some drug is 100% effective, "miracle drug".

He is not a pain doctor. He is a board certified neurologist. Her primary care doctor made the referral. He said this guy was the best in the state and one of the top neurologists on the east coast. We had to wait 3 months to get an appointment. He did No Imaging before prescribing the Duloxetine 60 mg per day and relied on tests results that were 4 years old. I was surprised when he raised her up to 120 mg per day as that is not consistent with the prescribing guidelines included with the prescription from CVS. I did talk to the pharmacist there and he said that was the max dose. The pharmacist suggested this site as a reliable source of information. I have done some research of my own and Duloxetine appears to be difficult to taper off of for some. This doctor doesn’t seem to be aware of that . He said mild stomach upset was all that should happen. Anything else was something else going on. Originally he had her tapering in 4 weeks. Should we try to switch to a board certified pain doctor? Sorry for all the questions but I don’t know where else to turn!

I am biased that pain docs should handle pain LOL. However, I would expect a top level neurologist should know things that your doc apparently doesn't. Any of these psych drugs need to be tapered really slowly- 4 weeks to me is a minimum. For patient comfort- tapering over 2-3 months is preferred. It sounds like your doc was going "all in" on the Cymbalta- pushing it to the max to see if it reduced the painful sensations. There is certainly something to be said for trying that- but usually you do see some minor improvements with lower doses that would lead you to increase the dosage. It sounds like your partner really didn't have a good response on the lower dose- so I am missing why up the dosage to max.

That makes 2 of us. She had no impact at the 60mg for her lower back pain or idiopathic neuropathy. All the increase to 120 mg did was add pretty much every side effect on the list. When I have tried to talk to the doctor about these side effects, he dismissed them as related to something else but not Duloxetine. Thanks so much for your thoughtful responses. It does help me think that I am not crazy!